Angel in the Snow--The Whole Shebang!!!
by Verbum
Summary: When a world-traveled exchange student comes to Hogwarts as a sixth year, she rocks Remus' world. Rated PG for some slight langusge as the fic progresses, and this is the non-revised version-- there will be changes throughout the course of the next fre m


Angel in the Snow (The whole Shebang!!)

by Verbum

  


Ye Olde Author's Note:

Alrighty then. If you're reading this, then you rock. This is a basic compilation of the ENTIRE Angel in the Snow series (with a few new parts added in, just for your enjoyment and my sanity). Please review. Many thanks to all who did.

  


  


  


  


  


Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 1980

  


I couldn't believe it. I, Remus Lupin, was in my seventh and final year at Hogwarts. All of the waiting and studying (or in my case, lack thereof) had finally come down to this one year. In fact, that was the topic of conversation between the group and I at the annual Sorting Ceremony.

  


"Can you believe that it's out last year here?" I was saying to Sirius Black.

  


"No, I can--Whoa! Who's the new girl?" Sirius' eyes wandered to the line of first years being sorted by Professor Minerva McGonagall and the school sorting hat.

Okay, so it wasn't much of a conversation; it was more like Sirius checking out the girls and me babbling to myself.

  


"What are you talking about, Sirius?" Head Boy James Potter craned his neck to see what the object of Sirius' attention was. It had become a tradition for James and Sirius to check out all of the new arrivals for potential people to take under their wing, and Sirius, being the single one of the two, was also looking for new opportunities to break a couple of hearts.

  


"Her. The short haired blonde standing by McGonagall." While Sirius watched the girl 

appreciatively, James scanned the crowd and found her. 

"Her? She certainly doesn't look like a first year." The new girl's eyes met his and she smiled at him. He smiled back and suddenly felt a jab in his side, given by his girlfriend Lily, the Head Girl of Hogwarts.

  


"Nice to know you're looking." Lily smirked at him.

  


"Ooohhh, you're in trouble," I said. James smiled evilly at me, but before he could retort back with anything, Professor McGonagall began reading the names off of her list. 

"Haley Andrews." 

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted. The Ravenclaw table cheered, and the embarrassed first year ran to find a seat at the crowded table. And so McGonagall and the Hat continued. Sirius and James were trying to figure out a way to float silverware over her head without her noticing when McGonagall came to **the** girl's name.

  


"Penelope Lynn Taylor." I heard Sirius say "I hope we get her!" to James under his breath.

The blonde girl strode forward confidently and placed the battered hat on her head. A couple seconds went by, and the hat gleefully cried out

  


"GRYFFINDOR!"

  


Our table cheered for our new arrival, while Sirius and Peter Pettigrew whistled out catcalls. I could only watch as the girl walked past me looking for a seat.

"Oh, dear," she remarked, scanning the full table. I pushed some space between myself and Peter and grabbed her a chair.

  


"You can sit here," I said. She looked into my eyes and smiled a thousand watt smile 

at me, taking the seat. "She has beautiful eyes," I thought to myself. 

The rest of the crew was introducing themselves to her and quizzing her.

  


"So," Lily was asking, "The boys here were wondering if you were really a first year. Except for James, of course." She softly poked him in the side.

  


"Actually, no." She laughed softly. "I'm in my sixth year. I just got a late start coming, that's all." She had an odd accent, British laced with American.

"Really? Do tell!" Lily was interested.

  


"Well, my family moved to Boston three months before I would've started Hogwarts as a first year. 

I went to the Liberty Academy of the Magical Arts instead." She shrugged. "My dad just got a promotion, so we moved back, and I transferred here." The sorting hat had been taken away from the stool and huge, steaming plates of food now lined the table. The feast had begun. Sirius, Peter, and James had dug in immediately, but Lily was much too interested in Penelope, who had began to daintily eat a piece of bread.

  


"So, what is it like in America? Are your parents Muggles? Who's your favorite Quidditch team?" She seemed to be bursting with questions.

  


"Lil! Leave the poor girl alone! It's her first day here!" James looked at Penelope apologetically, but she just smiled at him.

  


"No, James, it's all right. America's a nice place to visit, Lily, but you don't want to live there. Too dirty and crowded. No trees, either. We lived in a flat in a nice part of town, but even there the rooms were kind of small and our neighbors were nosy." She chuckled. "I'm half Muggle; my Dad was a Wizard, but my Mum 

wasn't. She didn't seem to mind, though. They were happy when they found out that I was a Witch. And I love the Boston Warlocks!" She giggled along with Lily about her choice of Quidditch team, noted especially for their very muscular Seeker.

It seemed that Penelope Lynn Taylor had everyone's stamp of approval. Later, as the different houses split up and Lily was engaged in another animated conversation with 

Penelope (about Quidditch, I think), James caught up to me on our way to the Gryffindor Common Room.

  


"Remus, you old dog!" he said, playfully punching me in the shoulder.

  


"I thought that was Sirius. What did I do?" I tried to look confused, but I knew what he was talking about. Somehow I had the feeling that I was going to hear about this for a long time.

  


"You like her!"

  


"Like who?" That's it, Remus, play stupid.

"Penelope! Don't deny it, everyone at the table saw you gawking at her!" James grinned from ear to ear.

  


"Well, I do admit she's quite attractive, but I wouldn't go as far to say that I like her." Liar.

  


"Oh, Remus, poor unenlightened Remus, come to your senses. You even forgot to introduce yourself to her at the table." We had stopped in front of the Picture of the Fat Lady.

  


"Existentialism," We said simultaneously. The door flew open. 

"Admit it," James said, as he walked toward Lily and Penelope.

  


"Never." He winked me before he sat down. I didn't feel much for talking , so I went into the seventh year boys dorm and promptly fell asleep, without even bothering to unpack.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


I awoke the next morning before dawn. Looking at my alarm clock, I saw the blurry red numbers 4:30. Damn. "Oh well," I thought, "I won't be able to go back to sleep anyway." Without waking up my roommates, I slipped out of the dormitory into the Common Room, book in hand. It was empty except for two people, one being an overachieving third year who had fallen asleep atop a pile of Arithmancy and Divination books, the other being a rather familiar short-haired blonde girl engrossed with a sketching of some sort. She looked up from her drawing.

  


"Remus! Fancy seeing you here! Couldn't sleep either?" Penelope grinned her thousand 

watt smile again.

"Penelope! I didn't expect to see you here." How did she know my name?

  


"Yes, well, I don't take well to sleeping in unfamiliar places. I just pass the time doing this instead." She held out her sketch of a unicorn in a field of flowers. "Nice, but unproductive, wouldn't you say?" I laughed.

  


"Very nice, but not wholly in vain." She was looking at me with those aquamarine eyes, and it made me nervous. It was if she was searching for something. She must have found whatever it was that she was looking for, because she looked away a moment later, and folded her sketchbook back to a blank page.

  


"Penelope? What are you doing?" I asked.

  


"Drawing." She stared intently at the page, sketching a couple of round lines. It looked like the beginnings of a face.

  


"What?"

"What do you mean 'What'?" She looked back up at me for a couple of seconds then resumed.

  


I sighed. "What are you drawing?"

  


She held out a half completed rough sketch. "You, silly." She grinned.

  


She looked back up at me, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You just had a particular look to yourself in the moonlight," she said quietly. "I wanted to get it on paper. It suits you."

She continued her sketching. In a couple more minutes she had a completed little sketch of me, raising my eyebrows in a quizzical way. The picture stuck it's tongue out at me. I laughed and Penelope glared at the flippant image and flipped the sketchbook back to the first page, much to the chagrin of the drawing.

  


"I do hate it when they become snotty." She then realized the humor of the situation and 

laughed. For awhile nobody spoke. Then the sleeping third year woke up and, realizing that he was asleep in the common room, trudged back to his dorm.

  


"So," Penelope said when he had left the room, "Why aren't you asleep anyway? Here to keep me company?" She grinned again.

  


"No, I just can't seem to sleep well on the first day of classes. I usually come out 

here and read something until the others are awake." I held out the book.

  


"Like what?" She took the book from my hand. "Dracula?" She gave me a sardonic grin. "You know--"

  


"Yes, I do know that it's just a common Muggle legend. I happen to like the book. Those Muggles come up with the most delightful things." She laughed. "If you must know I also like Frankenstein and the Wolfman."

Signs of activity were starting to come from the dormitories. A loud thud sounded from the seventh year boy's dormitories.

.

"Look, I've got to go." I gathered up my things and headed back. 

"Remus?" I turned around.

  


"Yes?" 

"It was nice talking to you." She grinned sheepishly. 

  


"You too." I smiled back at her, looking equally foolish.

It was then that I realized that I was in for a very long year.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


I ran into Penelope again that morning on the way to breakfast. She greeted me with another one of those thousand watt smiles as I sat down at the Gryffindor table, but she walked past the table. Sirius followed her with his eyes when she went by him. A platter of waffles appeared on the table, and I speared a couple with my fork and began to eat them.

  


"Geez," James said when he saw my plate, "You don't waste any time, do you?"

"Nope. Can't talk. Eating." I stuffed another waffle into my mouth.

  


"I heard you stomping around last night, Remus," Peter said. I guess I wasn't quiet enough. I had forgotten that Peter was a light sleeper. Actually, he was a heavy one. The loud thump from earlier that morning was Peter, falling off of his bed.

  


"Really, Lupin?" Sirius teased. "Up all night? Keeping Penny company, I suppose?" Peter sniggered.

  


I felt my face go red. "Shut up, Sirius." Luckily, Lily walked in and served as a diversion. I had to get out of there. Anything having to do with Penny made me nervous, and, what more, the continual butt of a joke around Sirius and Peter. I mean, I had only known the girl for two days! What did they think was going on? If I was going to keep my sanity (and dignity, for that matter), I would have to stay away from her. So I walked out of the Great Hall, ignoring Sirius' comments of "Hey! Where's Remus going? I was just teasing!". Seeing as I wasn't paying attention when I walked into the library I ran headfirst into Professor McGonagall and knocked her glasses askew.

  


"Remus! Oh, you're just the person I wanted to see! I need to ask you a favor." She gave me a dazzling smile as she reset her glasses. A very un-McGonagall smile. I had to wonder what she was up to. 

"Sure, Professor. Anything." 

  


"I need you to be a guide to one of the first year students." Oh. That wasn't so bad. "Well, she's not a first year, but she's still new." Oh no. That was bad. "In fact, there she is now. Have you met Remus?" I felt my stomach drop, and I was afraid to turn around for fear of who it would be. Actually, I already knew who it was, but I was now kicking myself in the pants for going along with McGonagall. Curiosity had killed the cat (or should I say 'werewolf'?) once again. I also knew that I would never hear the end of this from Sirius and Peter. 

  


"Oh yes. We've met before, thank you." So much for my plan. The cat (wolf?) was stone cold.

  


"Very Good!" She began to walk away, then turned around again. "10 points to Gryffindor, by the way. Thank you, Remus." She smiled, then walked down the hallway. Oh well. It couldn't be too bad if it got Gryffindor 10 points.

  


"Hello," she said. She was drawing again. She looked up at me with those eyes of hers and my stomach did some sort of flop. She quickly looked away.

  


"Hi, Penelope." Awkward silence.

  


"You know, you don't always have to call me by my full first name. Most of my friends call me Penny."

"Oh." I looked around for a diversion and found one in her drawing pad. She seemed to be drawing a caricature of Professor McGonagall, complete with overly large, square glasses. More awkward silence.

  


"Is there something wrong? You seem nervous." How observant of her to notice.

  


"No, not really. Second day of the year. Got to get to classes." If I can keep this to as little conversation as possible, I'm home free, I thought. We walked to the Charms corridor, where James and Sirius were waiting outside Professor Flitwick's classroom. I held the door open for Penny, and, after she went in, Sirius burst out laughing.

  


"I don't believe it!" He was almost in tears from laughing so hard. I had already started to walk away towards Potions, disgusted.

  


"Wait," he said between guffaws, "I don't mean it the way it looks. It's just so funny, though, I mean--" He took in a big breath "--Remus Lupin, Ladies Man! Opening doors and pulling out chairs!" He burst out into a fresh peal of laughter. James shook his head and left him at the door.

  


"What's wrong?" He asked me. "You're not actually taking Sirius, um, seriously are you?" He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

  


"Well, what would you do? I don't see him laughing at you and Lily!" I stomped into the dungeon and took my seat, taking care to stay as far away from the Slytherin side and from Sirius as possible.

  


I couldn't concentrate on Professor Ether's lecture that day, and instead of creating the potion of Healing that I was supposed to do, it ended up a thick gooey substance that burned at the touch, as I found out from first hand experience. I always did stink at potions. Professor Ether just sighed at the result and told Severus Snape to escort me upstairs to Madame Pomfrey's room. Much to no one's surprise, he was already done. He kept giving me almost sympathetic looks as we walked down the deserted corridors.

  


Finally, it was getting too strange to put off any longer.

  


"What, Snape?" His head shot up. He frowned and stared down at the ground again.

  


"I know how it feels, Lupin." He's cracked, I thought. He's spent way too much time down in the dungeons.

  


"What on earth are you talking about?" I asked, feeling a sensation of dread in the pit of my stomach. 

"Penelope Taylor. I know how it feels to care deeply for someone and have the feelings not be reciprocated." Oh God, not him too. Dear God, I hoped that he was being sarcastic. I walked more hurriedly, reaching Madame Pomfrey's room before Snape could say anymore. Snape, however, wasn't quite done.

  


"Remember," he said. "If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm **not** there." He turned on his heel and left. Well, at least he _was_ being sarcastic.

  


That was it; Everyone at Hogwarts had officially jumped onto the loony wagon. Except Snape, that is.

  


The burn was more serious than I thought it was; Madame Pomfrey kept me in the hospital ward overnight to keep an eye on it, and it stung all through the day and into the evening. James and Sirius came up to visit me after the day's classes had ended and dumped a pile of Chocolate frogs and Every Flavor Beans onto my bedspread. James prodded Sirius.

  


"Go on, say it." Sirius looked sheepish.

  


"Say what?" I asked, chomping down on a frog. Ugh. Morgana card again.

  


"That I'm, uh, sorry. For teasing you so much about Penny. I know it pissed you off, and I'm sorry I kept doing it." He looked up and grinned at me. 

"Friends?" He extended his hand.

  


"Deal, Padfoot." I shook his hand with my only good one, my left.

  


"You going with us tonight, Moony?" James asked, looking at the clock on the wall. We were supposed to sneak into Hogsmeade tonight, like we always did on the second day of school.

"No, Pomfrey's keeping me here tonight. I extended out my right hand, which was covered with mean red welts and boils. James shuddered.

  


'Alright, well, we'll see you tomorrow in Herbology, won't we?"

  


"Yeah." I saw Sirius pull out the Marauder's Map and James pull the Invisibility Cloak out of a knapsack that had been slung over Sirius' shoulder. James grinned at me, and I heard them repeat our old maxim:

  


"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." 

  


They disappeared into the shadows just as Penelope came in. She did a double take.

  


"Weren't James and Sirius just--" She shook her head. "I need to lay off the Every Flavor Beans." I laughed as she groaned at the sight of the Beans on my bed.

  


"I heard you were in here, so I brought you something." She pulled out her sketchbook and took out a page that she had carefully cut out. It was the picture of me, left over from the night before, only she had colored it. It winked at me.

  


"Thanks." 

"No problem. I like to draw; I used to do people's portraits in Muggle amusement parks for money." She chuckled. "Of course, they weren't enchanted." She smiled at me, then noticed my hand.

  


"What's that?" She looked mildly queasy.

  


"My little accident in Ether's class. I think I put too much of something in the potion of Healing and it turned into the salve of severe stinging. I stink at potions."

  


"Me too. I nearly blew the roof off my old school while making a shrinking potion. I really got it for that one at home." We both laughed.

  


"So." The awkward silence permeated the room again.

  


"So." She looked down at her shoes.

  


"How did you know my name?" I blurted out.

  


"What?" She looked confused.

  


"Last night in the Common Room. You said my name and I never introduced myself."

  


"Oh, that. I asked Lily." She grinned sheepishly. "I thought you were cute."

  


"Oh." Something there didn't sound right. Wait a minute. "What?" This was the last answer that I expected.

  


"You heard me. I said that I think you're cute." She put her hand on top of my injured one, and stood up as if to leave. "You're not upset, are you?" She dropped her eyes down to the floor.

  


"No, of course not. Not at all. Just...suprised, that's it. I didn't expect a girl to come to my room and tell me that she thinks I'm cute while my hand is stinging from a potions lesson gone awry." She looked back up at me and smiled.

  


"Well, get used to it. The cute thing, not the potions accidents." She turned on her heel as if to leave, then changed her mind at the last second. "Look at your hand," she said, taking a bag of Every Flavor Beans.

  


I looked down at my right hand and it was completely healed. She was gone.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


I really didn't see her too much after that, since she had pretty much figured out how to get to her classes without any help. After a couple of weeks my days became more regular and drifted back into the same schedule that I'd followed for years. Whenever I did happen to run into her in the hallway, she'd always flash me her bright smile and run off on her way. It almost seemed as if she were avoiding me sometimes. Still, I couldn't let it get to me; I had more important things to focus on. Everything seemed to be getting back to normal, including Snape. In fact, he seemed as if he wanted to make up for the almost human treatment he gave me on the way to the infirmary.

  


"Lupin! What do you think you're doing?" Snape stood over my shoulder, examining the mixture that I'd made in potions.

  


"Making pea soup, Snape. What does it look like?" He'd been acting more like a jerk than ever lately, always standing over my cauldron and ridiculing the resulting potion. I smirked, thinking of the look on his face when he finds out that Sirius had added some Filibusters Fireworks to his polyjuice potion. Zonko is a god, I thought. I turned back to my cauldron, looking at the resulting grayish-green mess. Actually, it did look like pea soup. Needless to say, that particular potion (which, might I add, was useless) did nothing to help my grade.

  


The rest of the day was monotonous, and after my final period, which was Transfiguration with McGonagall and the Hufflepuffs, I went outside for some fresh air. Only a couple more nights until the full moon, I thought. I'd better go and tell James and the rest of them. As I was rounding the corner to the path that led back to the dorms, I saw Penny sitting on the stone bench with her back to me, casting some sort of spell that made the white roses next to her glitter. She didn't notice that I was behind her until my shadow blocked her light.

  


"Oh! It's you, Remus." She gave me an embarrassed grin. "I can explain what I was doing." She looked around at the garden of glittering roses around her, then shrugged. "Okay, so I can't. What can I say? I thought it was pretty." She began to sniff the rose closest to her.

  


"Stella Flora." I picked a rose. I could give it to James to give to Lily.

  


"Yes, that was it. Star Flower. Latin." The colors of sunset made the entire garden an eerie reddish pink. She was silent for a moment.

  


"Do you know Latin?"

  


"The basics. Veni, Vidi, Vici. You know. Enough to get me through my classes. Oh, and 'Non Calpestare'. Or is that Italian?"

  


"Don't trample the grass? I think it's Latin." She stifled a laugh. "Where did you learn that from?"

  


"James. He had a slight obsession for Latin in our third year. He kept walking around saying random things to Snape just to see if he knew what it meant. You wouldn't believe the things he called him." I laughed, remembering Snape's face when he found out what 'Minerva nil scit' meant. In front of McGonagall.

  


"Ahhh. That would explain the 'amo te' every time he sees Lily." She was giggling. The sun was glinting off of her hair, making it a bright orange. A piece in the back kept sticking up, so I reached out to smooth it back when she grabbed my wrist. 

  


"How is your hand?" she asked softly.

  


"Fine...how did you do that?" She looked embarrassed.

  


"What?"

  


"Heal my hand. Even Pomfrey couldn't do the job."

  


"Just...a little something I picked up. Nothing too exciting." She stood up suddenly. 

"I've got to get back to the school or my roommates will start to worry."

  


"Now who's nervous?" She bit her bottom lip.

  


"I don't know what you're talking about." I couldn't help but to smile.

  


"You were the one who blatantly came out and told me I was cute, and now you're practically running way from me. What's up?"

  


"It just seems....awkward. To be standing out here. With you." She dropped my wrist.

  


"We're just having a friendly conversation about Latin."

  


"I know, but..." She stopped.

  


"But what?"

  


"Nothing. I've got to go." She stood up and began to walk away. Do something, my brain said.

  


"Hey!" I called out after her. "You left this." I handed her the white rose that I plucked. She blushed and walked back towards the Dorms.

  


Lily sat down next to me that night in the Common Room, a smile playing on her face. She had something behind her back.

  


"Hello, Remus," she said. "I trust you had a good walk?"

  


"Yes." I didn't need to hear Lily tell me about the gossip going around the school; I already knew it all myself. Snape had kindly told me.

  


"Wonderful. Penelope asked me to give you this." Lily handed me the glittering white rose. "I don't suppose you happen to know why, do you?" Her eyes were shining and the smile finally broke out.

  


I sighed. "Yes, I do know." Her face took on the expression of concern.

  


"What, aren't you happy?"

  


"I don't know what to think. One minute she acts as if she likes me and the next minute she avoids me like the plague. Like now, with this." I picked the rose up.

  


"Oh. I see. Well, I'm sure it'll all work out for the best. It always does." She hastily excused herself to go and find James. I held the rose in my hand. I was going to have to do something about this whole mess; it was driving me crazy.

  


The full moon came and went, and, as always, I had to skip the next day of classes or face the wrath of Pomfrey. It was now early October, one month since I met Penelope. From all that I heard of her she seemed to be doing quite well; I even overheard McGonagall comment to Dumbledore about making her the next Head Girl. She had the top grades in Transfiguration and Charms for her year. She always went to every Quidditch match with Lily so they could cheer for James. And, lastly, she had no lack of suitors, inside and out of Gryffindor. And me? I was barely passing potions, and fell asleep in every one of Professor Binn's lectures. Oh, and there was that whole werewolf thing. Actually, with sleeping in Binn's class I wasn't alone. Needless to say, we were all excited about the prospect of a trip to Hogsmeade in a couple of weeks.

  


"Did you hear? Hogsmeade is doing a sort of Muggle film festival!" Peter was excited. He had always had a thing for Muggle movies, especially old black and white ones.

  


"Really?" James asked. "What are they showing?"

  


"I don't know."

  


"Creature from the Black Lagoon." Sirius had just come into the Common Room.

  


"Really? I love that movie!"

"What? Why on earth would they be showing that? It's so campy!" James laughed. I had to wonder myself; it would be like watching old Scooby Doo reruns on TV.

  


"They said it was in the spirit of Halloween." Sirius shrugged. "I need to refill my stocks from Zonko's anyway."

  


The late October day of the Hogsmeade trip was cold and crisp with a couple of snowflakes floating down; it was going to be a early winter. I bundled up further into my cloak and looked forward to setting foot in the Three Broomsticks and drinking a Butterbeer or two. By the time we reached the main street the scattered snowflakes had turned into a flurry which, in turn, turned into a full-out snowstorm. All of us Hogwarts students were standing outside the Three Broomsticks throwing snowballs at each other when McGonagall walked right into James' line of fire and got hit by a huge snowball. She shook the snow out of her hair and stomped over to where a very amiable Dumbledore stood.

  


"Minerva, my dear, you look like a spitting cat," he said. McGonagall threw a snowball at him. We all noticed, however, that they headed off in the direction of the Film Festival. Together.

  


After getting hit with one too many of Sirius' enchanted snowballs, I decided to take a walk and skip the movie. The snowstorm had calmed down considerably since our arrival and, anyway, I needed to sort out my thoughts about what was going on. The lake was partially frozen over and there were Lily and James sliding on the ice. My thoughts, however, were interrupted by a person lying in the middle of the path in front of me. It was Penelope.

  


"Hello, Remus."

  


"What the hell are you doing?" I asked. She looked up at me and smiled.

  


"Lying in the snow for fun and profit. What does it look like?" Her cheeks were flushed red and she had snow in her hair.

  


"Like you're lying in the snow for fun and profit. What are you doing, anyway?" I heard Lily shouting at James to stop pelting her with snow.

  


"Making a snow angel. We used to do it all the time when I lived in Boston." She stood up and brushed the snow off of her robes. There was an imprint of her body where she was lying. She grinned mischievously at me.

  


"Do you want to make one?"

  


"No!"

  


"Why not?" She stuck out her lower lip. "Pleeeaaassseee?"

  


"Certainly not. I'd look ridiculous. And you're acting like a shameless flirt."

  


"I am one. And hat's not a good reason. Come on, just once. That's all I'm asking." I just couldn't resist those eyes.

  


"Fine." I sighed. She grabbed my hand and led me to an angel-free bank, where I laid down and began to go about the process of making my own angel.

  


Actually, this isn't so bad, I decided. Penelope grinned devilishly at me and the next thing I knew I was being assaulted by snowballs of every size and shape. She ran off as soon as I got up off the ground.

  


"You...little...Devil!" I caught up to her at the next bend of the road. She was doubled over with laughter. In fact, we both were. We were probably being looked at like a couple of loonies, but hey, it was funny. Well, to us at least. In a couple of minutes the laughter subsided.

  


"You should've seen the look on your face when those snowballs hit you; it was priceless!" She chuckled. We were walking back towards the three Broomsticks.

  


"Yeah, and you should have seen the look when I caught up to you." She shivered with the cold.

  


"Where's your cloak?" I asked.

  


"I forgot it. I didn't think it was going to snow this early."

  


"Oh." Do something, my brain told me, once again. This is your chance. I slipped my arm around her shoulders, bringing a fold of my cloak over her. She looked up at me, startled, and then smiled and settled into the cloak. James and Lily noticed it: James gave me a big thumbs up while Lily winked at me.

  


She sat next to me on the way back from Hogsmeade with her head still on my shoulder. Inside, I felt a kind of giddy happiness that stayed with me all through dinner up to the time I went back to the Common Room. She came down and sat next to me.

  


"Hi," I said. Sirius and Peter were laughing about the movie in the background.

  


"Hi." She looked up at me. "Remus--"

  


"I know." A thought was lurking in the back of my mind. "You aren't...mad, are you?"

  


She smiled. "No, of course not. Quite the opposite, actually." She rested her hand on top of mine. "It was sweet of you."

  


"Thanks, I guess." I hate serious conversations; I always manage to stick my foot in my mouth. Like now. I squeezed her hand. She stood up to leave, and took her hand back. Before walking into the door, though, she paused and turned around.

  


"Goodnight, Remus." She smiled.

  


"Goodnight, Penny." 

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


That morning I walked down into breakfast in a very good mood. In fact, I was whistling. Yes, you heard me. Whistling. Sirius and Peter raised their eyebrows, but Lily and James had a smug look on their faces. Peter was the first person to speak up.

  


"What happened to you? You look like you just won a million galleons." I looked over at Lily; She was on the verge of cracking up. So was James. I decided to change the topic before they exploded with laughter.

  


"So, how was 'Creature of the Black Lagoon'?" Sirius groaned.

  


"The movie was all right except for Dumbledore and McGonagall cracking on it right behind us. Through the entire movie." He rolled his eyes.

  


"You should have heard them," Peter said. "'Look! You can see the zipper on the back of the costume!' or 'I've fought off scarier-looking Cornish Pixies!' You could barely concentrate over their hooting."

  


"Lily and I went skating over the frozen part of the lake," James said.

  


"We did not. You slid around on the ice and I kept having to pick you up after you fell." James faked a hurt look on his face and Lily gave him a peck on the cheek. He smiled.

  


"Well," Sirius said, "I guess that leaves you, Moony. How was your trip?" Damn it, I thought. This was why I changed the topic in the first place. 

  


"Fine. I, er, took a walk." I prayed that he didn't see me and Penny at Hogsmeade last night.

  


"That it? Sounds boring to me." He took a big bite out of his muffin.

  


"Not really." Penny had just came down from the dorms and sat down next to me.

  


"And how would you know?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. A couple of people around us gave us odd looks.

  


"I was there." She calmly took a bite out of her toast and looked him straight in the eye.

  


"Really, now? Are you sure it was just walking, Remus?" I opened my mouth to retort back but Penny had already interjected, a mischievous smile on her face.

  


'What, Sirius? What did you think we were doing? This?" By now she had the attention of the entire Gryffindor table. She winked at me, then wrapped her arms around my neck and passionately kissed me; not knowing what to do, I closed my eyes. The entire table cheered. Sirius looked dumbstruck.

  


"Um, since you mention it, yes." He was beet red, and suddenly seemed to take a great interest in his hash browns.

  


"Shouldn't you two do that somewhere more private?" James asked.

  


"Awww, but it's so much more fun in a crowded public area," Penny said. James grinned.

I finally saw what James had been talking about for so many years. Kissing. Wow.

  


The rest of that day was a blur; Every Gryffindor I passed in the hallway gave me a thumbs up or winked as they went past. I even almost got my potion correct (the day wasn't that eventful). Sirius was still in shock by the end of the last class. Having finished his lesson for the day, the ghostly Professor Binns began to grade some papers. 

  


"She kissed you!" Professor Binns looked up from his desk and glared at Sirius.

  


"Yes, she did." I was busily trying to find the year of Dumbledore's defeat of Grindelwald. Peter was asleep behind me, softly snoring on his desk.

  


"But-" Sirius was at a loss for words.

  


"You make it sound as if she kissed Peeves. Am I really that bad?" Speaking of which, I spotted Peeves at the entrance to the classroom. Obviously the Professor hadn't noticed him yet.

  


'No, not at all." He grinned, ignoring the dirty looks that Binns was giving him. "I just

think that our little Moony is growing up." Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Peeves was planning a surprise attack on Professor Binns. Just as he bent over to retrieve a piece of chalk lying on the ground Peeves let out a very rude sound. The entire class of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors cracked up. Peeves took off.

"Class dismissed!" Binns bellowed while trying to keep up with Peeves.

  


There was a note on me bed when I returned to my dorm. The graceful handwriting told me immediately that it was from Lily; Peter wrote in a kind of chicken scrawl, Sirius used all caps (much to the dismay of McGonagall), and James' had a backward slant to it. 

_Penelope asked me to tell you to meet her at the observatory tower at 11:00. Watch out for Filch and especially Peeves; he's still, er, peeved at Binns from earlier._

_Lily_

_P.S. Don't do anything I wouldn't do._

_P.P.S. I want all the details._

  


I chuckled; She would be one of the people I would miss the most after graduation. Less than a year, I thought. I combed my hair and put on my newest set of robes before I went down to dinner.

  


"Hey, Lupin, looking good!" Sirius called out.

  


"Yeah," Peter added. "Got a hot date tonight?" he snickered.

  


"I didn't see any good looking girls kissing you this morning, Wormtail," James said. Peter shut up and ate his mashed potatoes.

  


"Where_ are_ you going tonight, anyway? You're actually dressed up." James looked down at his mud splattered robes from Quidditch practice then at mine to make a point.

  


"I'm going to meet Penny later tonight."

  


"Ahh. Want to make a good impression, I see. Astronomy tower?" he whispered. My head shot up.

  


"How did you know?"

  


"Relax. Every couple goes there to get away. Including Lily and me." He smiled at her.

  


"Oh." I suddenly lost my appetite. That was an often occurrence when Lily and James began to reminisce on their relationship. Like now.

  


"Have fun, and don't get caught. It's a weeks detention with Filch if you do." He laughed. "We had to polish trophies for an entire week, though the upside was that we did discover that unused classroom on the third floor." I hastily excused myself from the table (on purpose).

  


I holed myself up in my room, pretending to study for tomorrow's pop quiz in potions (Sibyll Trelawney, another Gryffindor, had predicted it in divination and every seventh year student in Hogwarts was cramming). At 10:30 I checked my hair one last time and found that James was gone (probably to 'reminisce' with Lily in that classroom). I stole out of the dormitories, waking up the Fat Lady who sputtered about disregard to rules and got to the observatory early. I was nervous. Penelope came a couple of minutes after I did, looking equally frazzled. She smiled when she saw me.

  


"Hi. Nice night, isn't it?" She looked up at the sky. "Venus is bright tonight." I noticed with interest that the moon was waxing, which meant another trip to the Shrieking Shack and another day of missed classwork very soon. I didn't notice that she was staring at me intently.

  


"I'm sorry," she blurted out. I was taken aback.

  


"For what?"

  


'This morning at breakfast. For kissing you. I just wanted to shut Sirius up."

  


"Well, it worked." I chuckled. "Besides, it's not as if I didn't enjoy it." I did. Really, I did.

  


"Thanks. Should I take that as a compliment?" She grinned.

  


"I should say so. I'm a very high judge of standards." She laughed.

  


"So it's official now. I'm now dating Remus Lupin." She looked up at me.

  


"Only if I'm now dating Penelope Taylor." I smiled. "Want to seal the deal?" I leaned in closer to her. She grinned.

  


"Anytime." My lips softly brushed against hers. I felt like I was floating. I did, though, have a nagging feeling that I would hear 

about this someway or another from Sirius in the morning.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


It was one of the most blissful times in my life, now that I look back on it. Stolen kisses in the hallways, the admiring looks from Peter and Sirius, on one side. Knowing that I'd made Snape even madder at me than he ever was before on the other (slightly sado-masochistic) side. Those were the days that stretched out into weeks and even months. My time at Hogwarts was drawing to a close; only two more months until graduation. Penelope and I had been together for almost 7 months and had been through almost everything together, though I still couldn't bring myself to tell her about my lycanthropy. I really wanted to; I saw her concern for me when I had to miss class, the way her little sketches and bags of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans would appear on my bed or be delivered by James. I just didn't want to hurt her. She meant too much to me, and she was already under enough stress as it was; Dumbledore had named her Head Girl for the class of 1982.

  


James and Lily got engaged on May 17, 1981. They came into the common room looking unnaturally happy for a couple of people who had just returned from a trip to Hogsmeade. The full moon had been the night before meaning that I was confined to my bed or the common room and Penelope had stayed behind, saying that I looked like I needed company. Lily was beside herself with happiness; She showed everyone who would look the gold band with a small diamond embedded in it. Sirius slapped a very embarrassed looking James on the back.

  


"We knew you could do it, Old Boy!" James grinned sheepishly.

  


"Took you long enough," I said. "We were expecting this years ago." Peter was strangely silent.

  


"Yeah...I just figured, you know, with graduation only 2 months away..." James didn't finish; We all knew what he was about to say. All of us were reluctant about leaving each other. After all, 7 years was a long time...

  


"Remus." I looked up. Lily was standing over me, nervously fingering her engagement ring.

  


"Lil, I'm so happy for you both." I hugged her. She hugged me back, but I noticed that she was fighting to keep her emotions in check. "What's wrong?" I asked. James, Sirius, and Peter were laughing about old times on the other side of the room. Penelope was curled up next to me on the couch, where she had fallen asleep after doing her transfiguration homework. I reached over to stroke her hair.

  


"It's all too soon, Remus. I can't leave yet. I can't be getting married." She had tears in her eyes.

  


"I understand, Lil. It's going to be hard to leave everybody behind, especially those you care for." Boy, wasn't that true. "We'll all keep in touch, though." My voice was cracking. "And I'll be there at the wedding. I wouldn't miss it for the world." Lily smiled through her tears. I realized that I was on the verge of crying, too. She hugged me again. Then the tears fell.

  


I can't live without her, I realized. There would be no way that I could ever leave this place without her with me. I glanced down at her sleeping form; she looked so peaceful. In two months I will have graduated. She'll be in her seventh year. 18 and 17. Legal Adults in the Wizarding World. What am I thinking? Probably just caught up in the moment, what with James and Lily. It can't happen. Not while she's still at Hogwarts. Dumbledore would never allow it. It was late; I carried Penelope back up to the girl's Dorm and laid her on her bed. Maybe I'll think clearer in the morning.

  


Morning dawned, and my thoughts from last night still filled my head. Snape had a field day; I made so many mistakes in Potions that he was practically giggling when he came to correct me.

  


"What were you thinking? Professor Ether said to add the ground unicorn horn first so that it would have time to disperse through the potion. This is absolute crap!" I wasn't listening to him. For all I knew (or cared, for that matter) he could've been bathing in the potion and spouting Shakespearean love sonnets. The History of Magic went pretty much the same way, not that I really paid much attention there in the first place. Professor McGonagall finally noticed my detachment after my third attempt to halfheartedly transfigure my desk into a pot-bellied pig. She pulled me aside, into her office where no could interrupt.

  


"Remus. Something's the matter. Penny for your thoughts?"

"More like 'Penny on my thoughts'." McGonagall laughed, a rare thing indeed. Her face lit up, making her look younger. I tried to picture her as being my age and came up with an image of her with in drab black Hogwarts robes with her hair down.

  


"I see. Upcoming thoughts about graduation? The future?"

  


"Yeah...I still don't know what I'm going to do." She seemed to be reading my mind.

  


"College is always an option. You are very bright."

"Not with this whole werewolf thing," I replied, somewhat bitterly. Of all the curses to have.

  


"Oh." She paused, then smiled again. "I see that's not exactly what's on your mind right now. It's Penelope, isn't it?" She asked softly. I nodded silently.

  


"You love her."

  


"Yes. I can't imagine living without her."

  


"Have you told her? About the lycanthropy?"

  


"I can't; I'm too afraid I'll hurt her."

  


"If you really do love her you'll tell her. It's too important an issue to ignore."

  


"I know that. I just--" I had to tell somebody. Even if it was McGonagall. "--I want to marry her, Professor." Instead of the shocked expression that I expected, I looked up to see Professor McGonagall smiling at me. A genuine smile, not one of the tight-lipped ones that she gave when dealing with one of Sirius' pranks.

  


"I had no idea."

  


"Neither did I until last night." She laughed.

  


"You mean when Lily and James announced their engagement? It was no shock; we'd all been predicting it for years. Especially that Paschall woman." Elaina Paschall was the school's Divining Arts teacher. It was widely known that McGonagall had a great dislike for divination and for Paschall especially. I laughed. She fell silent for a few minutes apparently thinking of what to say.

  


"Do whatever feels right, Remus," she finally replied. "I wish you the nothing but the best of luck. Now get back to class." I couldn't help but to crack a smile.

  


A couple of weeks later I met up with Penelope after my last class of the day and we walked around the rose gardens together, laughing about old times.

  


"Do you remember the conversation about Latin we had in here?" She asked. I laughed, thinking back to the ridiculous it sounded. "Veni, vidi, vici," I replied. It's so different now. 

  


"There's the bench where you recited the 'Celestia' charm." Where she sat, seven and a half months ago, amidst a garden of shimmering white roses.

  


"I still have it." 

"What, the charm?"

  


"The rose you gave me on the astronomy deck. I enchanted it so it'll never dry out." She looked down at her feet.

  


"Penelope. What's the matter?" I saw that she was blinking back tears.

"Do you realize that we've got less than two months left together?"

  


"I'll be back to visit you. You can't get rid of me that easily." She smiled weakly, then bit her lip.

  


"Remus, I'm going to miss you. I-I love you." The tears, refusing to be held back any longer, came down in torrents. All I could do was hold her while her words sunk in; that was the first time she had ever said 'I love you' to me. Heck, it was the first time anyone had ever said that to me. I held her tighter and whispered "I love you, too." The sun went down behind us.

  


I caught Sirius making out with a fifth year girl when I walked back into the Gryffindor common room; Penelope said that she had to study for an Herbology test and do Binns' assignment which was due the next day, so she went directly to her dorm. I sighed and stood behind him, waiting to see when he would notice. His partner tipped him off when they next came up for air.

  


"Oh, hi Remus. I didn't see you. What's up?" The girl, disgusted, walked off to sit with her friends. 

  


"Oh, nothing important enough to interrupt your little excursion, I'm sure." I sighed and sunk into the couch next to him, burying my face in my hands.

  


"Moony, no offense, but you look like hell. Something's the matter. Spill it."

"I'm in love."

  


"Really. No crap. Tell me something I don't know."

  


"Where's James?"

  


"At Quidditch practice, where else? Why?"

  


"You wouldn't understand."

  


"Oh, I see how it is. I'm not good enough to talk to, is that it?" A smile played on his lips.

  


"Sirius, be, er, serious for once."

  


"Okay, fine. What's wrong?"

  


"I want to ask Penelope to marry me." He looked put back for a second. 

  


"Yeah. You definitely want James for this."

  


"Sirius! I mean it. For real."

  


"Oh crap. Moony, seriously."

  


"Seriously." A slow smile crept upon his face. The next thing I knew, I was enveloped in a huge bear hug.

  


"I knew I'd see the day! Who would've thought! Moony, married." He laughed.

  


"I still have to ask."

  


"What, you didn't? Why not?"

  


"I'm a wuss, " I admitted. "The fact that she's still got one more year of Hogwarts left. Oh, yeah, and the fact that I'm a werewolf."

  


"What?" Penelope walked into the room, hands on her hips. She'd been sleeping; Her hair was messed up, and her robes were wrinkled.

  


"Crap," I muttered. "Penelope, how much of that did you just overhear?"

  


"Come with me. Outside." I followed her into the corridor.

  


"When were you planning on telling me?" Her voice was strangely calm, like McGonagall's when she got mad.

  


"About what?"

  


"The fact..that you're..a werewolf! On our wedding night?" Her aquamarine eyes were blazing. I sighed.

  


"I didn't want to hurt you."

  


"So what, you thought that by not telling me it would solve the problem?"

  


"No! You're under a lot of stress and I didn't want to add on to the pile!"

  


"You don't know stress. I do. I need some time to think alone." She walked off in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. I followed her to the stairs.

  


"You're not going to solve anything by brooding up in that tower."

  


"I thought I told you to leave me alone." She turned around.

  


"Stress? Do you want to know stress?" I asked. "How about having to live like a monster for 11 years?" My voice was slowly rising. Penelope stood in shock in the middle of the hallway. "How about having to spend every full moon in a shack, unable to control yourself?" I was yelling by this time. "Damn it, Penny, don't you see? I couldn't tell you, you'd hate me. Just like everyone else." My chest hitched. I sat down on the bottom and buried my face in my hands.

  


"Oh God," she whispered. "Remus-"

  


"Leave me be." She walked back in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


I don't know how long I sat there, but after awhile Sirius took a seat next to me.

  


"She's really upset, Remus." I nodded.

  


"Christ. Everybody in the Common Room could hear you two." I nodded again. 

  


"That must've been hell to let out, after so many years."

  


"You have no idea." Of all the things I wanted to do right now, talking was at the bottom of the list. I just wanted to sit and sort out the last few hours. Alone. Sirius stood up and sighed.

  


"I'm worried about you, Remus. If you need anything, just ask, okay?" I stared at him silently. He nodded and went back through the picture of the Fat Lady.

  


The teachers noticed the change but didn't say anything; Truth is, I didn't care about anything anymore. To hell with Snape and the rest of them. This went on for about a week. Thursday night I was absentmindedly reading The History of Magic when someone sat down on the side of my bed. I tried to concentrate on the Rise of Voldemort and ignore the person on the other side of the bed hangings.

  


"Remus," I heard a woman's voice say. It was Penelope.

  


"It's 2:30 in the morning. Go away." 

  


"No." She pulled the curtains back and gave me the once-over. "What happened to you?" She was right; I did look different. I had lost a little bit of weight and I hadn't gotten much sleep in the past week.

  


"Why?" She drew the curtain behind her, leaving us in privacy.

  


"Because you look like you got run over by the Knight Bus. We need to get some things out into the open."

  


"What's the point? It's over, anyway." I looked up, and her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  


"So that's how you think of it. I...see." She stood up. "I guess I shouldn't be here then. Sorry I disturbed you," She said coldly as she drew the curtains and took a few steps forward. _Stupid, call her back._

  


"Penelope, come back." She turned back around and sat on the side of my bed again.

  


"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say all of that last week. I just had to make you..understand." She nodded slowly.

  


"I overreacted....I shouldn't have blown up. You should've told me, though, a long time ago. Eight months, to be exact." She gave me a sad smile. It hit me; today would be our eight-month anniversary. I had totally forgotten with the fight and all.

  


"Penelope, come here." She came and laid down next to me. I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her: she was crying. We both fell asleep like that.

  


The sun was shining through the narrow opening in the bed hangings; I looked at the clock, trying not to wake Penelope. 12:14. Holy Crap.

  


"Penelope, wake up."

  


"mmm...wha?" She opened one eye. "What time is it?"

  


"12:15." She shot straight up.

  


"What? Why didn't you wake me up?"

  


"I just woke up myself!" If McGonagall found out about this she'd be furious. I hurriedly pulled my robes on and looked for my DADA textbook. I didn't even smooth my hair out. Penelope had already run to the girl's dorm. I ran down the stairs and corridors and arrived in my Defense Against the Dark Arts 20 minutes late. Professor King (who looked very much like Elvis today in his sequined white robes) glared at me.

  


"Nice to see you could make it, Mr. Lupin." God, did he look like Elvis.

  


"Sorry sir. I overslept."

  


"I see. 5 points from Gryffindor for irresponsibility. He went back to his lesson on the Fidelius Charm, which would keep a person forever hidden if used correctly. I took a seat next to James in the back of the room.

  


"Why didn't you wake us up?" I whispered.

  


"Well, you've barely gotten any sleep in the past week, and you two looked so content. I couldn't stand to. Neither could Sirius."

  


"Oh. Better to let me get in trouble, then?" I grinned at him mischievously.

  


"You forget that's what we're here for." He winked.

  


The N.E.W.T.S. were a nightmare, just as McGonagall had said they were; they consisted of both written parts and application of practical magic. I really wished that I'd paid more attention in the History of Magic; 700 questions, fill in the blank. Same with DADA. Transfiguration involved turning a shoebox into a replica of your best friend and back again. I desperately hoped that she wouldn't take too much off for James being slightly square around the edges and having the faint words 'Payless' on his forehead. I actually got my sleeping and healing potions right, but I miserably failed the polyjuice. Professor Flitwick made each of us individually charm larger and larger objects around the room to do what ever we wished; I made his file cabinet do the Charleston. Finally, it was over. 

  


Graduation was a week away before I knew it. Penny and I had made up, but the question still remained: what would happen to us after I graduated? Lily and James set their wedding for early June. The thought of marriage was starting to come back into my mind. _Maybe Dumbledore could make an exception, and maybe her parents will let us. _We'd talked about it before, but the conversation always turned to another topic quickly; neither of us wanted to think about it.

  


I watched as Penelope walked through the rose gardens, enchanting them to glitter in the sunset. It brought back old memories of earlier in the year, and I smiled to myself. She had grown her hair out a couple of inches and I was a little taller, but the scene was still the same. Her hair glowed like fire. I walked up to her and hugged her from behind. 

  


"Penelope." I kissed the back of her neck. She turned around, wand in hand, and smiled at me. _18 and 17_, I thought. _Legal in the Wizarding World. _I took her hand and sat down on the stone bench. My mind was racing. I plucked a rose, and absentmindedly began playing with it's sparkling petals.

  


"Graduation is a week away," I said.

  


"I know. What are you going to do?"

  


"Sirius and I have found a nice apartment outside of London that we're going to share. Maybe I'll teach; I don't know yet."

  


"I see."

  


"Penny, is there something wrong?" There seemed to be a fire in her eyes that I had never seen before.

  


"I just can't believe you're going. The year's gone by so fast." She looked straight into my eyes. I couldn't put it off any longer.

  


"I don't want to leave you, Penny."

  


"I don't want you to leave." She sat down and put her head on my shoulder.

  


"I-I don't have to if you really don't want me to."

  


"What? What do you mean, Remus?"

  


"I could stay with you always, through good times and bad and for richer or poorer, till death do us part." I had said it; I couldn't believe that I just let that slip. Penelope bit her lip. I fumbled around in my pocket and found a sickle and a couple of knuts. I pulled out the sickle.

  


"Remus..?" 

  


"It's not traditional, but I guess it'll do for now." I put the sickle in my hand and shook it a few times, then tapped it with my wand. In my hand there now was a little silver ring. I placed it on her ring finger. What do you know? Transfiguration did come in handy. Wouldn't McGonagall be happy when she found out...

  


"So, Penelope Lynn Taylor, what do you say? Will you marry me?" I whispered. She looked down at her shoes, contemplating. A couple of seconds later she looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, slowly nodding at me.

  


"Of course, Remus." I was relieved. I picked her up and swung her around; it was the happiest day in my life.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


We ran back to Gryffindor tower hand-in-hand, not even bothering to stop for air along the way. Lily and James were sitting one of the couches by the fireplace, talking to Sirius. Sirius jumped up when he saw us run in.

  


"What's the matter? You're running like you've got Voldemort on your tails!" Lily and James looked rather distraught at the mention of his name, and shifted around uncomfortably in their seats.

  


"No, quite the opposite." I panted for breath. Penelope gave an out of breath smile.

  


"What?" Lily had a smile slowly growing on her face. Penelope held out her left hand.

  


"It's a little plain, but it still does the job." Sirius looked bewildered.

  


"Sirius, you wanker! Remus is getting married!" Lily practically shouted. He took this in for a moment. The next thing I knew I was being lifted off of the ground.

  


"Moony! I can't believe it!" He then noticed Penelope standing off to the side and hugged her too. "I can't believe I'm the last one left!"

  


James sniggered. "I think that honor goes to Wormtail over there." Peter had fallen asleep on a nearby chair, drooling.

  


"Moony? Wormtail?" Penelope raised her eyebrows at me.

  


"Just a nickname I picked up, for obvious reasons." She snickered. 

  


The Graduation Ceremony was held in the Great Hall, and all of us seventh year students were decked out in billowing black dress robes; James and Lily had scarlet and gold cords around their necks, symbolizing them as Head Boy and Girl as part of Gryffindor House; Similarly, the Slytherin Heads would have graduated with green and silver cords, Ravenclaw with blue and bronze, and Hufflepuff with yellow and black. The entire school was present for the ceremony and feast. Dumbledore smiled and stepped onto the podium where the ceremony was to take place.

  


"Ladies and Gentlemen," He began. "I would like to take some time to say a couple of words." The audience groaned, expecting what he would say next.

  


"A couple of words. Alright." The audience laughed. "On a more serious note, this stage is the place where your Hogwarts life begins, with the Sorting. Hogwarts is the place where you will spend seven years of your life, where you will learn to live, love, and make everlasting friendships. It is also the place where your Hogwarts life ends, as is the case with the students gathered here today. This class has the honor of meeting the requirements for Graduation, and I hereby certify them with the full rights and privileges of the Wizarding world. Will next year's Head Boy and Head Girl come forward?" I saw Penelope in her dress robes, wearing a cord similar to Lily's walk to the stage. McGonagall unrolled a long piece of Parchment and nodded to Dumbledore. 

  


"Abbot, Amelia. Hufflepuff." A tall girl with a yellow and black cords around her neck graciously received her diploma.

  


"Frank, Michael. Hufflepuff." All of the Prefects were called first, then the Head Boy and Girl. Nobody received as much applause as "Samson, Lily" and "Potter, James". Or, on the flip side, as little as "Snape, Severus", who had actually washed and combed his hair today. Sirius did a cartwheel when he was called on to receive his diploma. I, however, had a hard time keeping my eyes off of Penelope when "Lupin, Remus" was called. She smiled at me as her partner handed me my diploma.

  


Peter shyly walked up and gave a tight-lipped smile when it was his turn. I turned to my friends: Our stay was now over. Sirius had an evil smile on his face and I suspected it had something to do with the dung bombs I found on his bed earlier that day. After the last name had been called, Dumbledore took out his wand, and signaled the rest of the Graduating class to do so. Sparks of every color flew out of the wands to signal the end of the ceremony and the beginning of the feast.

  


Penelope caught up with me after the festivities were over; she had to sit at the head of the table with the prefects and new Head Boys and Girls. 

  


"I'm so proud of you. You'll have to owl me every day, you know." She grinned at me.

  


"You're my fiancee; I can't go for more than one day without talking to you. It's against the law." She laughed. We had already decided that we wouldn't start planning the wedding until well past the middle of Penelope's seventh year, so instead we would keep in close contact until that time. I took one last look around, since tomorrow Sirius and I would take the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross and straight to the flat. I had to wonder, what would we do when the full moon came around? Sirius had said something about a shed in the back that he 'modified', but with him you can never really be too sure.

  


At King's Cross I bid farewell to Penelope, though she would be with me at James' and Lily's wedding. James and Lily hugged me and Sirius good-bye, saying that they'd see us in a month. They would be staying with Lily's sister and neither really looked forward to the prospect. Penelope waved goodbye to me and Sirius as the London express pulled out of the station.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 month later....

  


Lily and James' wedding was held on a clear June day at Hogwarts. When Sirius and I arrived there, he immediately went to try and find James while I walked around the grounds. Whoever it was that took care of the gardens had really outdone themselves. A gazebo had been set up in the rose gardens, covered with trailing vines full of little white flowers (I suspected that that was Sprout's doing; I had seen that vine creeping along one of the greenhouse's walls), and the garden's roses had gone from white to vivid shades of red and dark pink. I noticed that most of them were sparkling.

  


"Remus!" I turned around, and there was Penelope running towards me, with her blonde hair flying in the wind. She looked wonderful: Her once short hair had grown and now fell to her shoulders in waves, and she was wearing new dress robes in a vivid scarlet silk. I felt rather plain in my black linen robes. I also noticed that she had inlaid 2 small red stones in the silver engagement ring I had given her, which made it look much better. She hugged me.

  


"You look beautiful, but why did you grow your hair out?" I asked her. She laughed. 

  


"I got tired of cutting it every three weeks around New Years." People were starting to sit down. James and Sirius ran up to the gazebo, along with Molly Weasley, who was Lily's Maid of Honor. James was almost shaking with nervousness. Peter was nowhere to be found.

  


"Have you seen Lily? It's almost time! Oh, hello Penelope." He picked off a piece of lint from his wedding robes. Sirius smoothed back his hair. Molly adjusted a pin on her robes.

  


"She'll be out here in a few minutes," a calm voice said, coming towards us. It was Professor Dumbledore, leading Professor McGonagall to her seat. 

  


"Hell, even McGonagall looks good today," Sirius whispered to me. It was true; Her long, black hair fell down her back in heavy waves, and she was wearing dress robes of a peach-pink satin. She had even replaced her heavy-frame glasses for contact lenses. She almost looked like a student. I noticed that Snape was in the back, scowling, with a young girl of about 11 or 12 in tow with very curly hair. 

"What is _he_ doing here?" Sirius asked. James shrugged.

"Lily said something about an act of goodwill...ask her not me."

Dumbledore took his place in the gazebo and Penelope and I sat down. The crowd hushed. Lily was walking down the aisle.

  


She had opted to wear robes instead of a dress, which now billowed out in a white cloud behind her, and her hair was pulled back into a kind of braided knot and crowned by sparkling white roses. Looking just as nervous as James, she stepped onto the gazebo. Dumbledore cleared his throat.

  


"Friends and family, we are gathered here today to join these two people, James Harold Potter and Lily Marie Samson, in holy matrimony. Before the vows are said, may anyone in this audience who feels that this marriage should not take place speak now or forever hold your peace." Silence. Even Snape was silent. "Then may the bride and groom speak." Molly and Sirius handed them their wands, which they touched together.

  


"For richer or for poorer," James said.

  


"In sickness or in health," Lily responded.

  


"Through any hardship or reward, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife, always."

  


"As I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband." The wands were glowing at their tips.

  


"Semper in matrimonium, semper in amicitiam," they said together. The wands engulfed them in a white light, which slowly subsided. Two rings appeared at the ends of the wands. James put his on Lily's finger, and she did the same with his.

  


"By the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife," Dumbledore said. "You may now kiss the bride." The audience clapped as Lily and James kissed.

  


Dumbledore came up to me and Penelope at the reception, a smile playing on his face.

  


"I heard through the grapevine that you two were planning a wedding." Penelope blushed.

  


"How did you know?" I asked. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling.

  


"Minerva told me. Don't worry, I allow it. It's only when the fourth and fifth years want to get married that I have a problem. You two are grown. Just wait until after Graduation, though, if you please." He walked towards Minerva and led her into a dance.

  


"Well, that's a relief. I thought he wouldn't allow it. Now we just have to convince your parents." Penelope was smiling.

  


"I don't think that'll be much of a problem," she said. "They said yes." Lily was getting ready to throw the bouquet. A whole crowd of women, including McGonagall, the already married Mrs. Weasley, and the little girl accompanying Snape formed at the bottom of the gazebo. The bouquet sailed through the air and landed right in the little girl's arms. Snape scowled even more. The sounds of Lily protesting could be heard.

  


"Come on, Lil, it's traditional!" James was saying.

  


"It's sexist and demeaning!"

  


"Come on, Lil! Just do it!" Sirius called out. She sighed and held out her leg. James took off the garter and threw it to the crowd of expecting males. Surprisingly, I caught it.

  


"Way to go, Moony!" Sirius said, slapping me on the back. Snape glared at me.

  


"Stay away from her, werewolf," he said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 months later....

  


It had been a month since I received Penelope's last letter. We normally wrote each other twice a week, and even more commonly after Lily and James' wedding. The worst part, though, is that Sirius knew what was troubling me and didn't seem to give a whit about it.

  


"She's probably busy with Hogwarts," he said while tinkering with his motorcycle. "She's Gryffindor House's Head Girl. McGonagall and Binns probably overloaded her with homework. You don't exactly have the most relaxing life, yourself, Auror Boy."

  


"I finished the Auror training two months ago; I need contact outside of you and the Ministry Officials."

  


"It's Hogwarts, I'm telling you."

  


"I don't think so...it hasn't ever taken it this long for her to write back, Hogwarts or no."

  


"You're starting to sound like Sibyll Trelawney. I think you're reading too much into this. She's probably already sent you a letter." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Lighten up. You're getting married and you know it."

  


"You're probably right. I think it's just the news Lily and James sent us." Sirius and I had recently gotten a letter from them, saying that Lily was in the 5th month of her pregnancy, and that they had to go into hiding, due to Voldemort and his forces. It had even been rumored that Snape was among them. We had gone to visit them not long ago, just after receiving the letter.

  


Their house in Godric's Hollow was a little cottage that they had spent weeks restoring back to it's former glory (let me tell you, an extensive use of magic was needed). The front porch was aglow with red and yellow tulips and white daisies. Lily was sitting on the porch swing with her hand over her stomach. She smiled when she saw us.

  


"How are our two favorite bachelors?" she joked.

  


"_The_ bachelor is fine and immensely enjoying his way of life," Sirius said. "You'll just have to ask Remus yourself." She laughed.

  


"James," she called, "Sirius and Remus are here." James apparated outside, with a towel draped over his shoulder and paint stains over his shirt. He grinned when he saw us.

  


"Hey, guys. You got the letter, didn't you?"

  


"Yeah, and we're worried about you two. Why hiding?" Sirius asked.

  


"Someone tipped us off to Voldemort," Lily said. "Dumbledore suggested it when he came to visit." Her voice lowered. "He also suggested the Fidelius Charm." Sirius looked taken aback.

  


"Is it that serious?" James nodded.

  


"He can't tell who it is that keeps telling our location, though he ruled you two out." Sirius was pale; I admit, I didn't feel at my best right then either.

  


"Sirius," Lily began, "We want you to be our Secret-Keeper."

  


"No, I can't do it. Why don't you get Dumbledore to do it?"

  


"He offered, but we wanted you," James said. "Please."

  


Sirius shook his head. "What about Peter? Out of all of us they'd never suspect him."

James thought for a moment. Finally he said, "That just might work...what do you think, Lily?" She looked at her stomach while she thought.

  


"I don't know...Peter was never as close to us as Remus and Sirius."

  


"That's just it! They'd never suspect him." She sighed.

  


"If you think it's the right decision, then by all means, do it." She patted her bulging stomach. "If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen. I'm eating for two, after all." She apparated into the kitchen. James turned to face us.

  


'"It was nice talking to you both," he said. "Come see us when the baby is born."

  


"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Sirius said.

  


"It was good to see you," I said.

  


"Watch yourself," Sirius said, as we apparated back to our apartment, leaving James on the porch.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 months later...

  


Lily had a baby boy. He was christened as Harold James Potter, after his father. We went to see them a month after he was born.

  


"He looks just like you, Prongs," Sirius said, taking in the baby's unruly black hair. Lily smiled. 

  


"Look at his eyes," she said. The baby yawned and opened his eyes.

  


"I'll be damned! They're yours! Moony," he said, "this kid is a carbon copy of his parents!" We all laughed, though mine was rather half-hearted. I had received a letter from Penelope just after we had gone to James and Lily's house, just like Sirius said I would. She apologized for not writing, because she had been studying hard for the N.E.W.T.S. and preparing for graduation. Something about her letter struck me as being odd, though I couldn't place it. I felt bad because I couldn't go to her Graduation due to Voldemort's spies, which also meant that our wedding had to be postponed indefinitely. She was soon to undergo Auror training, as she was starting a job at the ministry in a few weeks. Lily saw my expression and gave Harry to James. She sat down next to me.

  


"What's wrong, Remus?" she asked.

  


"Nothing...just problems with Penny and the wedding. It's been postponed until she finishes Auror training. She's joined the fight against the Dark Lord." Lily looked uncomfortable.

  


"We have to do it soon," she said quietly. I looked up.

  


"What? You can't mean--" She nodded.

  


"Oh God. You've been targeted, haven't you?" She nodded again.

  


"Dumbledore came to warn us again. The Longbottoms found the Dark Mark hovering over their door and they were found the next morning, dead." She shuddered. "It was _Avada Kedavra_, combined with the Cruciatus curse." I paled; the mere mention of those curses was enough to send anyone into a frenzy.

  


I went with Sirius and Peter to Hogwarts on the day the Fidelius charm was to be performed, 1 month later. Peter had changed in the one year since graduation; he had put on weight and was starting to bald a little in the front. He smiled nervously as he walked into Dumbledore's office with Lily and James. After an hour, Sirius was ready to break down the door when they all walked out.

  


"Ah, Sirius Black. Good to see you again." Dumbledore shook his hand. He then turned to me with a smile. "And Remus Lupin, too, I see. How have you all been doing?" He extended his hand. I shook it. 

  


"Quite well, actually," Sirius said. "The world of the muggle is very mundane." Dumbledore laughed.

  


"And how about you, Remus? How are the wedding plans?"

  


"Postponed, until she's finished with Auror training. She starts in a few weeks."

  


"She made a very wise decision. She would make an excellent Auror. She's a very good witch, you know."

  


"So I've heard. I recently finished my own training."

  


"I wish you luck. I really must be running, though. Goodbye!" he called out.

  


Penelope had an owl waiting for me that night when Sirius and I got home. I paid the bird a couple of Knuts and sat down at the kitchen table.

  


_Dear Remus,_

_Voldemort is on the rampage; at least 3 people that I went to Hogwarts with are dead; the Potters are next. I've dropped Auror training. This can't go on much longer, I won't let it. My family was the last target. I'll be over at your house at the full moon. I look a little different, but you'll know it's me. We'll discuss then._

_Penelope_

  


I went white; her family had been targeted by Voldemort. Why, though? Did they present a threat? I looked at the calendar. 

  


"Crap!"

  


"What? What is it?" Sirius came into the kitchen.

  


"Tonight is the full moon!"

  


"Yeah, so? The shed's ready."

  


"Penny's coming tonight!"

  


"What?" I thrust the letter over to him. He scanned it.

  


"Damn it! She can't come tonight or you'll rip her apart!" A knock sounded at the door. Sirius went over to it.

  


"Who is it?"

  


"Who does it sound like?" The voice sounded tired and had an edge to it.

  


"Penny?"

  


"The one and only. Let me in." Sirius opened the door. Penny stood at the door in muggle clothes, with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She looked ready to keel over.

  


"What the hell happened to you?" Sirius exclaimed.

  


"Nice to see you too, Sirius. Where's Remus?" She scanned the entrance way.

  


"I'm in here," I said from the kitchen. I walked over to her. She hugged me.

  


"I missed you so much," she said, burying her face in my shoulder. Her hair had grown even longer and now fell halfway down her back.

  


"What happened?" I asked, sitting her down on the couch.

  


"Voldemort came to my house three days ago to demand a following and my parents said no. Guess what happened?" She laughed bitterly. "I barely escaped with my life."

  


"How did you get here? You couldn't have apparated, you haven't taken the test. They would've found you by Floo powder."

  


"I did the next best thing. I flew."

  


"By broomstick? You would've done better to flap your arms together," Sirius said.

  


"I did, in a way."

  


"What are you getting at?" Sirius stopped. "Oh God. Don't tell me you're an--"

  


"Animagus. Like you, but I am most certainly _not_ a dog."

  


"You're an animagus? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

  


"I didn't know myself until Dumbledore called me into his office before your Graduation. I was born with it, like McGonagall. I had never transformed until the other night, when the Dark Mark appeared over our house."

  


"What kind of animal?" I asked. She yawned, then smiled.

  


"A phoenix. Kinda neat, huh?" Her Bostonian accent was showing through. She yawned again. I stood up.

  


"Oh, my, I'm sorry. How rude of me. I'll give you my room tonight. I probably won't be sleeping anyway."

  


"No worry," she said, nodding off on the couch. "This is fine."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11 months later...

  


Our area of London was getting too crowded with Muggles to stay there any longer; we all kept up the pretense of being college roommates trying to save money, but the neighbors though that two boys and one girl living together was the formula for trouble. So, after long weeks of searching, Sirius, Penelope, and myself found and moved into a small, three-bedroom house not too far from Godric's Hollow. The wedding was back on for July 30, right around little Harry's 1st birthday, which was in 2 weeks. Although I was a few weeks shy of 20 and she was going to be 19 in three months, it was good to at least have the wedding back on my list of priorities.

  


The Fidelius charm was still intact, thankfully, though they could very seldom leave their house. One of us always brought them groceries. The inside of the cottage was immaculately clean, and James had done so much home improvement on the cottage that it looked like a new house. Penny had taken a job at the Ministry of Magic and had completed (with my insistence) her Auror training. She always told Lily and James the new developments about Voldemort. Peter Pettigrew was nowhere to be seen.

Penelope had been on edge for a couple of weeks, staying up all night to do research on the Dark Arts, and often consulting me, as that was my best subject in school. Whenever Sirius or me asked her why, she would give us a slow smile and continue her studying. Everybody's nerves were taxed those days; Sirius had joined up with the League Against Voldemort and was constantly in and out of the house, James and Lily were half dead from boredom, and I was frantically trying to find a job with my werewolf status. One night after job-hunting I came home to see Penelope sprawled out on the couch, asleep. I smiled; she needed the rest. As I draped a blanket over her, she woke up.

  


"What're you doing?" She asked, yawning. 

  


"You fell asleep on the couch, so I brought you a blanket. Sirius has had the house set on meat locker for the past couple of days."

  


"Mmm. Thanks." She rubbed her arms with her hands. "It _is _cold in here."

  


"Go back to sleep. You need the rest."

  


"I need to be studying." She sat up.

  


"You left Hogwarts a year ago. Stop studying and start living." I kissed her. She smiled, then kissed me back, pulling me down onto the couch with her. Sirius walked into the living room.

  


"Get a room, you two." He grinned.

  


"This is a room," I retorted. Penelope shot up suddenly, her face white.

  


"I've got to go," she said quickly. She ran towards her room.

  


"What did I say?" Sirius said.

  


"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Penelope was in her room, throwing articles of clothing and some books into a spare duffle bag. She was white faced. I watched as she pulled on a red robe and tied her hair back.

  


"Where are you going?" I asked. Her lack of sleep was obvious; there were dark circles under her eyes, and she had lost quite a bit of weight. Or was it her lack of sleep? Those books...

  


"Voldemort's here." She answered.

  


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  


"You're not serious," I said.

  


"Why would I lie? He's in Godric's Hollow right now!"

  


"How do you know?" She smiled grimly.

  


"Look out the window." Directly over the nearby Potter cottage the Dark Mark had been conjured. I paled. Penelope finished stuffing her bag full of clothes and walked out of the room, wand in hand.

  


"Where are you going?" I asked.

  


"You don't expect me to just sit here while they're being attacked, do you? I know how to stop it."

  


"Why are you packing?"

  


"Because I'll have to run like hell after I do it. Dementor's kisses don't exactly turn me on." She walked a little further. I blocked her way.

  


"Let me pass, Remus."

  


"Explain those books first." A fire in her eyes was glowing.

  


"What's going on?" Sirius asked, walking into the room..

  


"That bastard Voldemort is attacking the Potters as we speak, and _he_," she pointed at me, "won't let me past." Sirius paled, then flushed an angry red.

  


"Pettigrew!" he roared. 'That son of a bitch! He's not going to live to see tomorrow." Sirius transfigured himself into a dog and ran out of the room.

  


"I want to know how you're going to beat him, and what those books were for." She stopped.

  


"Dark Magic," she said slowly. "The only way to defeat Dark Magic is by using Dark Magic. It slowly eats away at you, but it's the only thing that works. Remus," she paused. "I'm sorry. Harry deserves a chance to live past his first birthday, and if I can give it to him I'll walk into the pits of Hell to do it." The room was silent for a moment.

"I'm going with you," I said.

  


"Don't be stupid! You'll get yourself killed!"

  


"If I can't live with you, then I want to die with you." She bit her lip. A tear rolled down her cheek.

  


"Fine. Follow me." She transfigured herself into a bird of fire, with long golden tail feathers. The phoenix looked at me with it's aquamarine eyes. I grabbed my wand and we walked out of the door towards the Potter house. The air was still.

  


When we reached the cottage, she transformed back into a human in simple red robes. She drew her wand and looked around, then knocked on the door. James' voice answered from behind.

  


"Who are you and what do you what?"

  


"It's Penelope and Remus; we want to make sure that you and Lily are all right." James let out a sigh of relief and opened the door.

  


"Thank God," he said. "We've been scared stiff ever since we saw the Mark conjured over our house this afternoon."

  


"It's still there. He'll be attacking soon. You still have time to run and--"

  


"No," James said resolutely.

  


"What?" I asked. "What do you mean, 'no'? You'd risk the lives of your wife and son just so--"

  


"Remus, hear me out. Lily, Harry, and myself have been living in terror of Voldemort for over a year. We're too tired to run anymore. We'll face him here and win, or die trying."

  
"What about Harry?" I asked.

  


"He'll survive," Lily said, coming down the stairs with him in her arms. "We're certain of that. If anything happens to us, we'll leave him to Sirius." At the mention of his name Penelope's eyes widened.

  


"Holy hell...." she whispered.

  


"What?" I asked. "What's the matter?"

  


"He ran off in search of Peter, don't you remember? 'That son of a bitch, he'll never live to see tomorrow!'?" The realization dawned in my mind.

  


"Oh, God..." I started. Penelope shook me out of it.

  


"He's getting nearer," she said. She turned to Lily and James. "Get your resources together, we'll try to head him off." She grabbed my wrist and we ran off into the night.

  


After about ten minutes of running we stopped. Penelope looked around at the surrounding area as I clutched a stitch in my side.

  


"He's close, I can feel it." She turned around to see if anyone was following us, wand in hand.

  


"How can you tell?" She turned around and smiled slyly.

  


"I had Mad-Eye Moody as my Auror trainer. He taught us a couple of things not in the normal training schedule. Constant Vigilance!, as he used to say." She stopped and closed her eyes for a moment. "He's up ahead." We ran in the direction she pointed out, through the woods and fields of Godric's Hollow. There, a most sickening sight lay.

  


Voldemort was floating on the air, over a cluster of bodies that were unfamiliar to us, though their faces could easily be distinguished.

  


"Avada Kedavra," she whispered. The bodies were unmarked, save only with the looks of pure agony on their faces.

  


"Used the Cruciatus curse beforehand." She nodded. Voldemort turned to face us.

  


"Who's there?" he asked in a high, cold voice. We stood up straight and kept silent. Voldemort regarded us for a moment, then smiled cruelly.

  


"More Saviors, I see. Care to join the rest of your little party?" He raised his wand.

  


"Run!" Penelope screamed. She transformed into the phoenix just as Voldemort sent the Cruciatus curse at her. He smiled his cold smile again.

  


"Animagi, I see. No, wait." He sniffed the air. "Animagus and common werewolf. The stench is obvious." He turned to face me. "What say you, werewolf?" The crescent moon rose up behind him.

  


"I don't associate myself with murderers." He laughed.

  


"And I don't associate myself with common freaks. You are different, however." He came closer and put his hand on my cheek. My face burned at the touch. 

  


"You could have been great, you know. One of my most formidable Death Eaters. Too bad you had to associate yourself with trash like the Potters." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Penelope regain human form and raise her wand. Voldemort suddenly turned around and pointed his wand at her, shouting "Imperio!" Red and gold sparks shot out of the tip of the wand. Penelope stiffened, then shuddered and regained control once again.

"Useless," he muttered. "Waste of my time." He then did the last thing that either of us expected him to do: he walked off. Penelope fell to the ground.

  


"The Imperius Curse," she said, struggling to stand up. "He ordered me to kill you. I couldn't do it." Her chest hitched and tears began to flow from her eyes.

  


"Thank you," I murmured, holding her to me. I held her for a couple of minutes, then stood her up.

  


"We have to stop him soon. Every minute we waste is a minute closer to Harry and his parents. Come on." She reluctantly took my hand, and I led her off towards the Potter cottage.

It was silent when we got there, save for a crying baby. The door was open. Penelope walked in, and I followed. She gasped when we reached the staircase.

  


"Don't look. Please don't look," she pleaded. I looked anyway, and felt sick to my stomach: a charred body laid at the bottom steps of the stairs, unidentifiable except for a gold wedding band. James' wedding band. My stomach heaved, but before anything happened, Lily's voice came down from the upstairs.

  


"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!" She was sobbing. I tried to go upstairs, but Penelope held me back.

  


"Stand aside, you silly girl! Stand aside, now, and I'll spare your life." It was Voldemort.

  


"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead!"

  


Voldemort laughed. "As you wish...AVADA KEDAVRA!" I heard the thump of a body falling to the ground. Harry's wails increased in volume. I broke free and ran upstairs, Penelope following. There lay lily's body on the ground, with wet tears still on her face.

"You...Monster!" I shouted. Voldemort turned around and smiled.

  


"So, Taylor, Lupin. We meet again, though not under the most pleasant circumstances. Crucio!" he shouted, pointing his wand at Penelope. An earsplitting shriek rose out of her throat as she doubled over and fell to the ground. I looked over at her, horrified. She opened her mouth and mouthed feebly, "Grab Harry and run." I drew my wand.

  


"Expelliarmus!" Voldemort laughed.

  


"You can do better than that, werewolf. Imperio!" I dodged the flash of red light aimed at me.

  


"Flama!" I aimed the simple fire spell at him, which hit him and did absolutely nothing but singe his robes. Penelope was slowly transfiguring into her phoenix form; I had to distract him.

  


"Stupefy!" I yelled. Voldemort laughed.

  


"Your simple first-year spells will do nothing. Try again."

  


While I searched my mind for a spell, Penelope finished her transformation. She rose up into the air, a ball of flame, and aimed straight for Voldemort, hitting him square in the back of the head. He turned around and seized her by the neck.

  


"Damn you and your cursed transformation! Integrus!" She immediately became human again. His grip on her throat tightened, and she gasped for air. He threw her hard against the wall, so that she hit the bookcase, then he turned towards Harry, wand raised in his other hand.

  


"Finally, I see the downfall of the Potters and their prophecy!" He smiled maliciously. "Avada Kedavra." A blinding flash of green light erupted from the tip of his wand and hit the little boy. Harry screamed. All at once, the light bounced back and hit Voldemort, sending him sprawling on the floor and flames eruping from his wand, setting the house on fire. I ran over to Harry and saw the lightning bolt shaped cut on his forehead, and I scooped him up into my arms, wailing. Penelope was in the corner, laying on the ground. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She looked up at me and smiled.

  


"He's gone," she said. "We did it."

  


"No, you did it. Come on, the whole house is burning down. I touched her back and she winced in pain.

  


"Don't bother," she said. "It's broken. I'm not going anywhere."

  


"I won't let you die!" She smiled weakly.

  


"I'm a phoenix, remember? I'm supposed to die in a hellish inferno and be reborn from the ashes."

  


"That's just a myth. I'll go get help. You'll live." She shook her head.

  


"I won't live much longer anyway." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I love you, Remus."

  


"No, you can't go!" My eyes were filling up with tears. "What about the wedding?" I asked quietly.

  


"It wasn't meant to be. You'll find someone else, but my time is up." She closed her eyes. I watched speechlessly as her body engulfed itself in flames, momentarily becoming a huge phoenix with long golden tail feathers. A single tear fell out of it's aquamarine eyes and hit the scar on Harry's forehead. Then it disappeared. A dull clink sounded on the floor; it was her engagement ring, inlaid with a new third stone, a more vivid scarlet than the other two garnets set on it. I picked it up, then pocketed it, as I walked out of the cottage. After setting Harry down on a nearby rock where someone was sure to see him, I walked away, never looking back.

  


_Fin_

  


Wow, it's over (God help us all...). So, what did you all think? I'd really like to hear Reviews for this one; I think that as the story progressed, my writing got better. What do you think? Review and tell me! (hint, hint) If enough people like it, I'll begin to post another story, possibly a sequel to this one....Oh, hell. I already have begun it and am already halfway finished with the damned thing. Actually, I'm doing 2, but you'll just have to keep reading to find out more...

  



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